Last week my partner Shane Jones and I
visited our friends Leigh Hobbs and Dmetri Kakmi at the cottage in Newstead
that they’ve periodically house sat for many years. It was our first visit to
the cottage, which was utterly charming, and also the first occasion we’ve
taken time to explore the area. After a hearty lunch (doubly welcome on such a
cold day, as was the open fire) we all went for a walk in the nearby woods,
accompanied by Dmetri and Leighs’ two eager hounds Snowy and Lulu.
Newstead is about 15
kms from Castlemaine; both are part of the historic Goldfields area of
Victoria. The crevices and potholes in the photos below are remnants of its
goldmining history. I have a project relating to this very subject looming
(more about this in a future post) and was able to collect a great deal of
reference material, namely the leaves (mainly eucalyptus) some of which are
pictured in the final photograph below.
For a short history of Newstead, click HERE.
For a short history of Newstead, click HERE.
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| Into the woods |
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| The man-made crevice (above) and pothole (below) date from the gold mining era |
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| Left: Leigh Hobbs; right: Shane Jones |
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| Shane and Dmetri Kakmi |
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| Aside from a few scattered bricks, there is little evidence of the cottage that once occupied this spot |
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| At the approach of dusk: Shane, Leigh, Snowy and Lulu |
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| Shane in a spontaneous moment of levity - or possibly an attempt to levitate |
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| A small selection of my own treasures gleaned from Newstead's goldfields |